The Children of France Part 13

"One day the gun squad was sent to another point a long distance away and the lad returned to the rest camp. He now felt himself to be a well-seasoned soldier and talked of high-angle guns as volubly as could an experienced gunner. Still, he had not yet reached the realization of his ambitions. He tried often to steal away to the trenches, but in each instance was stopped and turned back.

"While in billets he fell in with a machine-gun company and became much interested in what they told him of the perilous work of that branch of the service. He concluded that this work would suit him better than the anti-aircraft service. While the latter squads ordinarily were located behind the lines, the machine gunners were up where there was trouble all the time. To join a machine-gun company was not so easy.

"Mattia's chance came one night. A company of machine gunners was ordered to a remote point on the line, a journey of some fifteen miles, where they were to establish a new emplacement, temporarily, to clean out a nest of Prussians. The lad listened to what the men had to say about their proposed journey and the work they expected to have to do with the keenest interest.

"'I too shall go,' he decided, but he told no one of his intention.

Instead, he waited until the men were well started, then followed them. There was no difficulty about this, as they did not have to pa.s.s any sentries on the way.

"Sh.e.l.ls frequently fell near them, many soared over their heads with weird moanings. He was getting so familiar with the sound of sh.e.l.ls that he could tell the kind of sh.e.l.l that was pa.s.sing by the noise made by it.

"Along toward the middle of the night the machine gunners reached their destination. Mattia did not show himself until the soldiers began preparing an emplacement for their gun. This emplacement was located in a clump of bushes, in which they dug a short trench, carrying the dirt far to the rear, so the enemy airplanes might not discover that the earth had been turned over there.

"The lieutenant in command discovered him and Mattia spent a few most uncomfortable minutes in trying to explain why he was there.

"'I know this boy, sir,' volunteered a sergeant. 'He is with the army and he is always very useful. Why not, sir, let him remain in case we need to send a messenger back?'

"'Very good,' answered the lieutenant, after brief reflection. 'But understand, boy, you must keep out of sight. In the daytime I want you to go over yonder in those bushes and lie down and don't dare to show yourself unless I give you permission.'

"To these orders Mattia made no response. None was expected. All the rest of the night he a.s.sisted in carrying back dirt in bags and dumping it in a gully where it could not be seen from up in the air.

In addition to the parallel trench one was dug back through the soft ground as a sort of communicating trench. The lad wondered how that trench could be dug there without the enemy's seeing it, but when the men began to plant bushes along its sides, permitting the branches to droop over the trench, he saw the idea of the plan. This was camouflage.

"It was nearly daybreak when he and some of his comrades made their way to the rear and went to sleep. When he awakened the sun was s.h.i.+ning brightly. Forgetful of his orders, he entered the communicating trench and walked forward. He was amazed to find another trench leading into the communicating trench. He asked a soldier about it.

"'Say, Mattia, do you think this squad is the only one in France?'

asked the soldier. 'There are other machine-gun units out here. Of course, we know where they are and the officers know what we are going to do. Peek through these bushes.'

"'Boches!' gasped the lad.

"'That is right, Mattia. They do not know we are here.'

"'Why don't you shoot at them?'

"'We are not ready, or rather, they are not.'

"The Germans were digging a trench on a rise of ground, where they always try to place them, instead of on low ground, about half a mile away. Mattia peered at them, looking through the bushes, until he was ordered by an officer to go back and bring up the breakfast for the men. Thus the little Frenchman was given to understand that he was one of them. The officer in command either had forgotten his orders to the boy of the previous night, or else had decided to use him so long as no fighting was going on.

"There was much about the work that Mattia did not understand. He now knew that there were other French detachments close at hand, but he neither saw nor heard them. The others, undoubtedly, were camouflaged just as his detachment was.

"So secretly, however, had the French worked that the Germans did not appear even to suspect the presence of the enemy. This secrecy was maintained for two more days, Mattia in the meantime having been initiated into the mystery of the machine gun. He was allowed by a friendly sergeant to handle the gun and go through the motions of firing it and putting in a fresh string of sh.e.l.ls. It was a delight to him.

"On the morning of the third day he was ordered to remain behind in a dugout that had been built. He knew by this that an action was at hand.

"It came about nine o'clock in the morning, when a company of French soldiers came marching down the field in plain view of the Germans, though no Germans were in sight. He did not know that these infantrymen were a decoy, a part of the plan of the French to draw the enemy down within easy range of their machine guns.

"Rifles began to crackle from the Prussian trenches, and to his amazement, after firing a few rounds in reply, the French infantrymen ran for the cover of the brush. He saw the reason for this a moment later when a big troop of German cavalry topped the rise of ground and swept on toward the French, followed by the charging infantry of the Germans."

[Ill.u.s.tration: HIS FIRE SAVED THE DAY.]

"Some time since, Mattia had slipped from his dugout. He was determined to miss nothing of what was going on. He saw his own infantrymen take to the communicating trenches and disappear, plainly as a part of the plan.

"Then the machine guns began to play. The mounted German detachment was close upon them before the hidden French machine guns opened up.

All down the line to the right he could hear French machine guns pouring their fire into the approaching hors.e.m.e.n. Those who were not killed or who had not fallen wounded from their horses were turned back.

"Mattia, in his excitement, crawled along one side of the communicating trench toward the machine-gun emplacement. He was shocked to see that more than half of his machine-gun crew already were dead or wounded. Now the German artillery, which he could not see, began sh.e.l.ling the French positions. A sh.e.l.l exploded in the trench occupied by his comrades, and Mattia was hurled violently into the communicating trench.

"When the smoke had cleared away Mattia ran forward. The machine gun was silent, though others down the line were very busy. It was a strange sight for a boy to gaze upon. All his comrades were now lying in the trench, either killed or badly wounded.

"The German infantry, in close formation--meaning close together--was coming on steadily. Down the line the French were holding them back, but in Mattia's trench there was no opposition.

"The boy collected his wits, uttered a gasp, then sprang to the silent machine gun. A half-used strip of sh.e.l.ls was in the gun and other strips were close at hand.

"Little Mattia began to work the machine gun. He swept the field with it as far as it would reach to the right and the left, sending a rain of bullets into the enemy. Even after the strip was exhausted he kept on working the gun, not realizing that it was out of cartridges.

Discovering this finally, he reloaded and began firing again.

"His fire saved the day for the French, because, had Mattia failed to serve the gun, the Germans soon would have broken through the line and that would have lost the battle for the French.

"At last the German line began to waver; it stopped, then began a retreat on the run, followed by the bullets of the machine gunners.

Mattia was yelling and whooping as he pumped away with his weapon, elevating its muzzle a little from time to time that he might be sure to reach the fleeing men.

"Sh.e.l.ls had been bursting about him all the time and were still bursting.

"The French machine-gun fire from other trenches stopped almost as suddenly as it had begun. Then something happened to little Mattia.

Another sh.e.l.l landed in his trench and burst with a deafening explosion. The lad fell forward on his gun and lay still.

"They found him there later, unconscious, badly wounded, his hand still on the trigger of the gun he had worked with such success. He was carried back to the rest billet and thence to a hospital.

Everywhere the story of the boy's heroism had preceded him.

"One day as he lay in his cot, now well on the road to recovery, some officers, guided by an orderly, entered the ward where he lay and halted at his cot. The officer in charge of the party, who proved to be a general, made a little speech to the wounded boy, then pinned the Cross of War on his breast and finished by kissing him on both cheeks.

"Mattia had won his reward, and though he would never fight again, he was a happy boy. He had served his country well and had bled for her and had won an honor that comes to few."

CHAPTER XIII

MARIE THE COURAGEOUS

"The Padre and his little niece, an orphan of twelve, lived on the outskirts of a French village that had been taken by the Germans,"

began Captain Favor, resuming his story telling for the children.

"Marie, for that was her name, was a patriot if there ever was one.

Every fibre of her being was for France, and one could see the fires of patriotism flaming in her eyes. That is the sort of patriotism, Joe, that no fear of death can dim."

Joe Funk nodded approvingly. His own patriotism had been stirred by these tales of the heroism of the children of France.

"While the French were in possession of the village in the early days of the war, an officer of that army made his headquarters with the Padre and his niece," continued Captain Favor. "He became very fond of the child. Captain Grivelet was his name and, recognizing in Marie a true patriot, he had explained many things to her about the war, so that, for a child so young, Marie was able to form a very clear idea of the situation of the two armies.